The judge set Howard’s bail at $50,000 and ruled that the girl can be released from the Juvenile
Detention Center to confinement at her grandparents’ home, with electronic monitoring, if the
family can post a 10 percent appearance bond.

Shamansky argued that a reasonable bond was appropriate because Howard has no juvenile record,
is not a flight risk and feared for her life during the altercation with Goodwin.

He told the judge that Goodwin had “a history of bullying behavior” that led to her suspension
from Walnut Ridge High School and “was hell-bent on making my client’s life miserable.”

He said an argument about a boy led to an exchange of text messages between Howard and one of
Goodwin’s friends before Goodwin went to Howard’s house on Kenview Road with “a posse of
confederates” on the afternoon of May 28.

Shamansky read from a series of the texts in which he said his client made it clear that she
wasn’t looking for a fight with Goodwin.

In one of the texts to Goodwin’s friend, Howard wrote, “Why don’t y’all come over cause I wanna
talk to her and I’m not fighting her cause I ain’t got no reason to fight her.”

Shamansky said Howard “had every reason to be afraid” when she produced a knife during the fight
after Goodwin and the others arrived at the house, where Howard was home alone.

Assistant Prosecutor Bridget Hinegardner said the incident did not involve bullying and that
Howard admitted to police that she knew Goodwin was unarmed. When Goodwin arrived at the house,
Howard told her to go around to the backyard, where the altercation took place, Hinegardner
said.

Howard pulled the knife and stabbed Goodwin in the chest after the argument turned into a
shoving match, she said.

Howard told the police, “If I didn’t have the knife, I wouldn’t have killed her,” Hinegardner
said.

In Ohio, a juvenile charged with delinquency murder who is at least 16 at the time of the
offense must be transferred to adult court if the prosecution requests a transfer and can produce
evidence to show that the juvenile probably committed the crime.